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Brain Tumor: Follow-Up Care

ON THIS PAGE: You will read about your medical care after treatment for a brain tumor is completed and why this follow-up care is important. Use the menu to see other pages.

Care for people diagnosed with a brain tumor does not end when active treatment has finished. Your health care team will continue to check that the tumor has not come back, manage any side effects, and monitor your overall health. This is called follow-up care.

Your follow-up care may include regular physical examinations, medical tests, or both. Doctors want to keep track of your recovery in the months and years ahead.

Watching for recurrence

One goal of follow-up care is to check for a recurrence, which means that the tumor has come back. A tumor recurs because small areas of tumor cells may remain undetected in the body. Over time, these cells may increase in number until they show up on test results or cause signs or symptoms.

During follow-up care, a doctor familiar with your medical history can give you personalized information about your risk of recurrence. Your doctor will ask specific questions about your health. Some people may have blood tests or imaging tests done as part of regular follow-up care, but testing recommendations depend on several factors including the type and grade of tumor originally diagnosed and the types of treatment given.

Many brain tumors are very likely to recur, so you should be routinely monitored for new symptoms and with regular MRI scans. How often you schedule follow-up visits and have scans depends on the type of the tumor and other factors, so your health care team will talk with you about your exact schedule.

The anticipation before having a follow-up test or waiting for test results can add stress to you or a family member. This is sometimes called “scan-xiety.” Learn more about how to cope with this type of stress.

Managing long-term and late side effects

Most people expect to experience side effects when receiving treatment. However, it is often surprising to survivors that some side effects may linger beyond the treatment period. These are called long-term side effects. Other side effects called late effects may develop months or even years afterwards. Long-term and late effects can include both physical and emotional changes.

Talk with your doctor about your risk of developing such side effects based on the type of tumor, your individual treatment plan, and your overall health. If you had a treatment known to cause specific late effects, you may have certain physical examinations, scans, or blood tests to help find and manage them.

As described in previous sections, a brain tumor and its treatment can affect how your brain functions and your overall well-being. For this reason, it is important for your health care team to evaluate your quality of life and your cognitive and functional abilities through specialized tests. These tests are typically given by a neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist is a psychologist who has special training in the brain’s capacity and behaviors.

These evaluations could identify situations when specific rehabilitative therapies would be helpful. Options for rehabilitative therapy include:

Speech therapy

Occupational therapy

Counseling with a social worker

Medications to reduce fatigue or enhance memory

Neuropsychological testing, which looks at the behavioral and mental changes from the tumor and its treatment

The goal of rehabilitation is to help people regain control over many aspects of their lives and remain as independent and productive as possible. Learn more about rehabilitation.

This is also a good time to talk with your doctor about who will lead your follow-up care. Some survivors continue to see their specialist, while others transition back to the care of their family doctor or another health care professional. This decision depends on several factors, including the type and grade of tumor, side effects, health insurance rules, and your personal preferences.

If a doctor who was not directly involved in your care will lead your follow-up care, be sure to share your treatment summary and survivorship care plan forms with him or her and with all future health care providers. Details about your brain tumor treatment are very valuable to the health care professionals who will care for you throughout your lifetime.

Trusted, compassionate information for people with cancer and their families and caregivers, from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the voice of the world’s cancer physicians and oncology professionals.